Barbora Krejcikova ‘very emotional’ after replicating Jana Novotna with Wimbledon victory
Barbora Krejcikova has described winning the Wimbledon singles title as ‘the best day’ of her life, drawing parallels to her late mentor Jana Novotna.
Krejcikova beat Jasmine Paolini, 6-2 2-6 6-4, to claim the second major singles title of her career after winning Roland Garros back in 2021.
Despite already having a Grand Slam singles title to her name, Krejcikova suggested that winning Wimbledon was a greater personal achievement, “It’s unreal what just happened. It’s definitely the best day of my tennis career and also the best day of my life. It’s super difficult to explain what I’m feeling right now.”
The Czech continued, “I think nobody is going to believe it. I still cannot believe it. Two weeks ago when I started here, I had a very tough first match, three hours and 15 minutes, winning 7-5 in the third set.
“I wasn’t really in good shape before that because I was injured and ill, I didn’t really have a good beginning of the season. It’s unbelievable now I’m standing here and I’m a Wimbledon winner. How did that happen? I have no idea.”
As Krejcikova mentioned, she had not come into Wimbledon in particularly good form, winning only two of nine matches heading into the grass court major after struggling with injuries and illness.
However, this title appears to have taken on a greater meaning for the 28-year-old, who broke down in tears when seeing her name on the winners board alongside former coach and 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna, who sadly passed away in 2017 after a battle with cancer.
This moment ????
Now @BKrejcikova‘s name will be up there alongside her late mentor ❤️ #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/c0lKn1NG8V
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 13, 2024
“Winning any Slam is great. Winning here at Wimbledon is huge for me,” Krejcikova revealed in her press conference. “But I wouldn’t really say it was my dream when I was very little. I have a little notebook that I wrote when I was 12.
“Maybe three, four months ago I was (looking) through that notebook. I wrote that in the future I would like to win the French Open. So it was quite a big dream for me to win the French Open.”
She added, “To be honest, maybe things shifted a little bit when I met Jana and she was telling me all the stories about Wimbledon, about the grass, how difficult it was for her to win the title and how emotional she was when she made it. I think since then I started to see Wimbledon as the biggest tournament in the world.”
Krejcikova went onto explain why she felt so emotional seeing her name on the winners board, “The only thing that was going through my head was that I miss Jana a lot. It was just very, very emotional. A very emotional moment to see me on a board right next to her.
“I think she would be proud. I think she would be really excited that I’m on the same board as she is because Wimbledon was super special for her.”
Krejcikova is now a 12-time Grand Slam champion, having won two major singles titles, seven women’s doubles titles with Katerina Siniakova and three in mixed doubles.
As a result of her latest victory, Krejcikova will now move back inside the top 10 of the WTA singles rankings when they are updated on Monday.
Inside the baseline…
It may not have been the best year by Barbora Krejcikova’s standards, but the Czech has proved that when she is on she is very difficult to stop. Krejcikova’s run to the title has been very impressive, beating the likes of Danielle Collins, Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina, with even a challenging first round against Veronika Kudermetova that lasted over three hours. The way Krejcikova speaks about Jana Novotna is so moving, and it is clear to see how much this meant to her to be able to become champion at a tournament that her mentor was so fond of. A lot of credit also has to go to Jasmine Paolini, who was so close to the Wimbledon title in what has been a phenomenal year so far for the Italian.
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